2010 Goodguys Southwestern Nationals Scottsdale - Hot In Scottsdale

The 2010 Goodguys car show season ended right where it began. Scottsdale, just east of Phoenix, was the site of the season-opening Spring Nationals in March and the big finale Southwest Nationals in November.

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The weekend before Thanksgiving provides perfect hot rod weather in the middle of Arizona. With a climate that caters to year-round cruising (except when it’s too hot), it’s no surprise that Scottsdale boasts such a high number of hot rodders. Some of them are year-round residents and some are snowbirds migrating from chilly places to spend the winter someplace hot. Either way, the Southwest Nationals is their chance to keep driving their cars while hot rodders in the rest of the country are getting ready for hibernation. Whatever the weather’s like where you live, it’s hot in Scottsdale, and the hottest spot of all is WestWorld, where 2,000 hot rods, customs, trucks, and muscle cars get together for three days of fun.

Look carefully at these photos and you’ll notice that some cars are parked on grass and some are parked on pavement. The pavement is the upper area of the grounds, adjacent to the 100,000-square-foot Multipurpose Tent. Inside the Tent, an uncountable number of aftermarket manufacturer and vendor booths display their products. Outside the tent, Goodguys sets up its corrals for various categories (Ya Gotta Drive em and Homebuilt Heaven being two of our favorites) on Saturday and its winners’ circles on Sunday. The grass is the Polo Field, a 19-acre basin packed, for three days anyway, with more vehicles and more vendors. Up the hill on the far side of the Polo Field, buyers and sellers get together at the swap meet and Cars 4 Sale corral.

3/67Chevys make great sleds, as Alfred de la Torre proved with this slammed ’51 coupe. The shaved 350-powered Chevy, winner of the Chopped & Dropped award, features a tan and off-white interior and CD player hidden in the stock radio location.

By the time you read this article, it’ll be time to head back to Scottsdale. The 2011 Goodguys season begins as soon as the cars start rolling into WestWorld for the Spring Nationals, held March 11-13. There may still be snow on the ground where you live, but it’s going to be hot in Scottsdale.

Painless Performance Products presents Street Rodder Top 100

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For the Top 100 program, Street Rodder attends 10 particular car shows each year and picks 10 vehicles at each to make up the Top 100. For more on where those shows are and how they’re voted on, check www.streetrodder.com

Painless Tech Tip

Wire Stranding

Did you know that in theory current flows around the strands of wire? This means that the more strands in a wire the more current that wire can carry. When wiring a circuit, be sure the wire is high quality and has maximum strands.

Street Rodder Magazine’s Best Ford in a Ford Presented by Ford Racing

38/67A lot of people got to see Charley Ogden’s ’40 at the Goodyguys show in Scottsdale in November, but you’re far more likely to see it on the highway. This thing’s a driver and has been since 1988.

Charley Ogden,
Scottsdale, AZ
’40 Ford Sedan Delivery

Charley Ogden is a Scottsdale native and a year-round hot rodder, as well as the proud owner of this deep blue, Blue Oval delivery, the most recent addition to Street Rodder and Ford Racing’s Best Ford in a Ford list, which honors guys, like Ogden, who opt to run a late-model Ford engine in their Ford street rod.

Ogden didn’t have to drive far to get to the Southwest Nats, but told us that his ’40 sedan delivery was built to drive. That’s not just talk in the 23 years he’s owned it, he has driven the Ford more than 100,000 miles. Ogden’s delivery features a Mustang II front suspension, parallel leafs, and Chassis Engineering components underneath to drop the delivery to ground level. Numerous body modifications include rounded door corners, shaved brightwork and hardware, and hidden hinges on the rear delivery door. Orange pinstriping along the beltline matches the firewall, and the steelies. In the summer of 2010, he decided to pump some new life into the faithful and much-driven delivery with a new 306ci crate motor from Ford Racing, tied to a Ford C4 transmission.

39/67The newest component on Ogden’s long-time street rod is the 306cid crate motor from Ford Racing, with an Edelbrock intake manifold and four-barrel carb. With that brand-new 306, the old delivery’s ready for the next 100,000 miles. Right, Ogden?

He’s proud to show it at events around the West, but for Charley, the real fun is firing it up and hitting the road. He said he loves driving the deliverypassing cars and trucks on his way to wherever he feels like going.